The owner and operator of a Los Angeles durable medical equipment (DME) supply company was sentenced to serve 24 months in prison for conspiring to submit nearly $1 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
In April, Tigran Aklyan, 37, of Van Nuys, California, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. In his plea agreement, Aklyan admitted that he was the owner and president of Las Tunas, a DME supply company located in San Gabriel, California.
Aklyan also admitted that he paid the owners and operators of fraudulent medical clinics to provide him with prescriptions and supporting medical documentation for the wheelchairs and equipment that he billed to Medicare, according to DOJ documents.
From on or about December 17, 2007 through on or about February 20, 2009, Las Tunas submitted approximately $910,377 in fraudulent claims to Medicare for power wheelchairs and related services. Medicare, in turn, paid Las Tunas approximately $653,461 on those claims.
Aklyan was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald in the Central District of California. In addition to his prison term, Aklyan was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $653,461 in restitution for the falsified claims.
Written by Jason Oliva
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